I think all of us have at some point been both interested and afraid of the idea of HAL 9000 in our computers, but Flickr user ts_looney actually made it happen, thanks to a creative Rainmeter skin that did most of the work for him. Best of all, it's actually useful.

This one's pretty simple to create, and the focus here is on the Rainmeter skin that makes this possible. Here's how to get the look on your Windows system:

A standard flat black desktop (you could download a simple flat color from MinimalWall too, if you want something different)

The HAL 9000 Rainmeter theme from DeviantArt for the panels around the sides of the screen and the HAL panel in the center

The HAL 9000 theme replaces the start orb with HAL's eye, and it drops that iconic HAL 900 panel right in the center of the desktop. If you poke HAL in the eye on that panel, he'll talk to you. That's fun, but the theme's usefulness comes from the eight panels that surround HAL: Each one can be customized to show an images or Flickr photos, your favorite RSS feed, current weather conditions at your location, your GMail inbox, weather radar images, Wikipedia and Google search tools, local hard drives, system status, and more.

This theme is actually ts_looney's handiwork, so if you really like it, head over to his Flickr page to let him know you like it, or his DeviantArt page to ask about the theme. If you're new to Rainmeter, check out our guide to get started with it. If you create a good-looking HAL desktop, make sure to share it with us in the discussions below!

Whether your goal is to make your desktop look beautiful or you want an information-rich desktop…
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Do you have a beautiful, creative, and functional desktop to share with the world? Submit it to the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Flickr Group! Please include a description of how you made it - without that, we can't tell others how to make it for themselves. Do these things, and it may just be the next featured desktop!